Seeing that the dean finally gave in, the students of Wuben College all breathed a sigh of relief and were secretly excited, feeling that the hard days were finally over.

Although the truth is cruel, the facts are there... After all, there are only a few people who can experience the many benefits of farm work like Shi Jizhi, such as strengthening the body, tempering the will, making the articles more real, insightful, concise and down-to-earth, etc.

Most educated people think that farming is just a torture.

This is understandable. How many scholars are willing to work in the fields all day? Isn't it because Ma Yilong is well-educated and has worked in the education field for half his life. Isn't he an absolute authority in the imperial examination?

Their calculation was that even if they only spent half the time studying at Wuben College, it would be better than having those idiots guide their studies, and it would be much better than studying alone.

Now Mr. Zhao promised them that after they went to Kunshan, he would let the famous teachers of Yufeng Academy take charge of their studies to reduce the burden on the headmaster. This group of guys were very happy.

Because the mountain chief has to deal with 600,000 acres of land and 60,000 farmers every day, and he also has to do agricultural research, he definitely doesn't have time to continue to bother them.

And Master Zhao would also take time to instruct them. In the Ming Dynasty, the only one who could teach people better than their headmaster was Master Zhao, right?

Although a certain scholar from Suzhou Prefecture School might express his dissatisfaction...but the fact that five Jinshi in one family are a golden signboard and a hard truth.

Ma Yilong couldn't help but secretly annoyed when he saw the students' expressions that looked like they had finally gotten some light. He sneered and said, "Don't worry, I won't ignore you when you get to Kunshan. At least I'll supervise you and let you continue to plant the land."

"Yes, Principal..." The students were like eggplants hit by frost.

~~

After lunch, Ma Yilong sent his disciples to work in the fields. Even if the academy's land was to be handed over to someone else to take care of, all the preparations before farming had to be completed.

He and Zhao Hao were talking about agricultural technology under the pergola. Ma Yilong has been farming for many years and has read agricultural books from past dynasties. He is experienced and has a solid theoretical foundation. Traditional agriculture is a business that relies heavily on experience and practice. He believes that no one knows farming better than him.

Ma Yilong has even persisted for many years, using the "ear selection method" to increase yields.

Simply put, after the rice is ripe, the strongest rice grains are selected... oh no, ears, and threshed separately for seed use.

This method is very laborious, but he persisted year after year and the results were amazing. The yield per mu of his academy was already twice the average level.

Unfortunately, ordinary people can never master this kind of sophisticated gameplay, which has caused Liyang's per-acre yield to lag behind...

Although Zhao Hao had never farmed before, he had a lot of new agricultural knowledge that the other party had never heard of. One can imagine the impact this had on Ma Yilong.

He told Ma Yilong why "a good crop depends on manure", because fermented manure is rich in nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and various organic matter. Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium are the nutrients that plants need and are taken away in large quantities during harvest.

But the amount they return to the soil in the form of residues and roots is small, so these three nutrients must be constantly replenished for plants to thrive.

"Egg-soaked armor?" Ma Yilong had naturally never heard of it before.

"You haven't studied Chemistry, so you won't understand even if I tell you." Zhao Hao felt it necessary to discourage Comrade Lao Ma's over-inflated self-confidence. He took a sip of tea and said slowly:

"You just need to know that nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium correspond to leaves, roots and stems. I'll teach you a jingle. When you see problems with your crops in the future, you can judge for yourself and make sure you replenish what's lacking."

"Well, go ahead." Ma Yilong nodded. He was indeed shocked.

"Look carefully at what is missing. Nitrogen is yellow and red, phosphorus is brown, and potassium is brown. Potassium can resist lodging, phosphorus is resistant to drought, but the branches and leaves are yellow and thin because of nitrogen. Nitrogen grows leaves and phosphorus grows fruit. With potassium fertilizer, the body can be strong." Zhao Hao smiled and taught junior high school biology knowledge to the characters in the junior high school biology book. It felt great.

It's just like using Sister Ma's poems to move Sister Ma, it makes people feel like their heads are going to explode.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but glance at Ma Xianglan who was sitting next to him, and Secretary Ma responded with a refreshing smile. Although I always felt that the young master's smile had some ill intentions...

~~

Zhao Hao also told Ma Yilong that he should be careful about the consequences of too much. If nitrogen is applied excessively, the plants will be greedy for green, mature late, and easily fall over, and will be more susceptible to diseases. Root crops will also have disappointing root yields because their leaves grow too lushly.

Excessive use of phosphorus fertilizer will cause crops to mature late and reduce the fruit set rate, while excessive use of potassium fertilizer will cause reduced yield and heart rot.

Ma Yilong was stunned. He thought that Zhao Hao, a young man who had never done any agricultural work, would only have a little agricultural knowledge that he didn't know. He didn't expect it to be so systematic and practical!

"Is this the power of science?" He murmured and asked Shi Jizhi to quickly take pen and ink to write it down.

Zhao Hao immediately asked someone to send Ma Yilong a box of pencils. It was too strange for an agricultural technician to use a brush. It would be more in line with his professional image to use pencil heads made of cigarette box paper.

Ma Yilong was familiar with pencils, but Zhao Hao's pencil box was much more practical. He had a black lead embedded in a grooved wooden strip, and then two wooden strips were glued together. There was also a knife in the box, which was obviously used to sharpen pencils.

“Zhonghua brand?” Ma Yilong saw the trademark on the box and couldn’t help but praise: “Young Master is really patriotic.”

"That's right." Zhao Hao smiled awkwardly and thought to himself, this is actually just a bad taste of mine.

Ma Yilong used a pencil to write down the knowledge Zhao Hao had just imparted to him. Then he looked up and asked, "So where are these three treasures?"

"Currently, potash fertilizer mainly comes from plant ash; nitrogen fertilizer mainly comes from decomposed human and animal urine... Actually, forget about soybeans, just ignore what I said; as for phosphorus fertilizer, fish scales, fish bones, animal bones, eggshells, clam shells, chicken, duck, goose and bird droppings are all rich in them."

“So that’s how it is!” Ma Yilong slapped his thigh and excitedly revealed his own secret recipe: “I collect shells from the river, grind them into powder and spread them on the ground, and the harvest will be much higher. It turns out that nitrogen grows leaves and phosphorus grows fruits!”

"Before a storm, I would sprinkle wood ash on the ground to prevent lodging. It turns out that it was because of the presence of potash fertilizer!"

After all the confirmation, Ma Yilong believed in Zhao Hao's theory without a doubt. He held on to him and refused to let go, as if he wanted to squeeze him dry.

"Just now you said that feces contain nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium?"

"Of course, shit is golden juice."

"That's right!" Ma Yilong felt like a bosom friend after hearing this. "I always say that a mountain of gold and silver is not as good as a mountain of feces. Unfortunately, they always think I'm sick."

"That's because they don't have the knowledge." Zhao Hao laughed and said, "In order to encourage the people to actively compost, I pay to collect manure. One load of human manure is one cent, one hundred catties of cow manure is ten cents, one hundred catties of pig and horse manure is fifteen cents, one hundred catties of poultry manure is twenty cents, and one hundred catties of sheep manure is also twenty cents!

After hearing his categorized quotes, Ma Yilong asked with interest, "Poultry manure is rich in phosphorus fertilizer, but the amount is small, I understand that. Why is sheep manure so expensive?"

"Among all kinds of animal manure, sheep manure has the highest content of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, followed by pig and horse manure, and cow manure has the lowest content. As for the amount of excretion, cow manure has the highest content, followed by pig and horse manure, and sheep manure has the lowest content, so the price is like this." Zhao Hao smiled and replied, "It's reasonable, right?"

"It makes sense, very much so!" Ma Yilong applauded and said, "Now all the manure in Kunshan belongs to us!"

"The people of Kunshan still have too few livestock. We have to think about taking over Suzhou City to get enough." Zhao Hao said unsatisfiedly.

"That's right, Suzhou has a population of one million, how many people can it attract..." Ma Yilong was fascinated.

The two were chatting animatedly, but the person next to them was about to vomit his lunch.

ps. This is the first of three consecutive updates. Please give me your monthly votes!